Chan’s concern
Every NFL team had to go without the usual in-person offseason workouts and team activities because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, teams installing new offenses and defenses are likely feeling the pinch more the others, considering this was the first week each franchise had a chance to put the schemes and plays taught remotely into action on the field.
New Dolphins offensive coordinator Chan Gailey said he was not comfortable with what he saw the first week and with the amount of work Miami’s offense has left to do before the Sept. 13 season-opener against the New
England Patriots.
“It’s been good. It hasn’t been perfect,” Gailey admitted Thursday when asked about his unit’s overall communication. “We still have some people not used to hearing the playcall the way we do it. You have to listen in sequence and make sure you’re listening to your thing you need to pay attention to.
“We’ve had more than we would like.”
If this problem doesn’t get fixed, the Dolphins could find themselves getting off to a slow start like last season, when Brian Flores’ team averaged 256.6 total offensive yards in the first seven games, which were all losses. Miami averaged 353.1 in their last nine, five of which turned into wins.
Gailey’s job is to ensure that the Dolphins’ offense doesn’t put the team in a hole early. To achieve that, he has to make sure mistakes everyone learns quickly and that the communication is seamless.
The Dolphins have three weeks to clean up these issues and continue evaluating the personnel before working on a game plan for regular season’s start.
“We’ve had a couple of issues,” Gailey admitted. “If [communication] was our biggest problem I would be feeling really, really good right now because that would be one of the easier things to solve between now and game day, as opposed to some of the other thing going on.”
Gailey wouldn’t elaborate on what those “other” issues are, but we can certainly speculate based on the first week of practices.
Depth and the talent-level at receiver is troublesome and could become a major issue if injuries, or positive COVID-19 tests, start to affect that unit.
The Dolphins are working to find a slot receiver to play an effective two-man game with the
starting quarterback, and which player will be is anyone’s guess, but Isaiah Ford seems to be the clubhouse leader.
According to Gailey, nobody has locked up any of Miami’s starting spots. That includes the quarterback position, where it is believed that Ryan Fitzpatrick’s mastery of Gailey’s offense — which he’s played in as a starter with the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets — would put him in the driver’s seat.
Gailey admitted Fitzpatrick’s grasp of his offense and his ability to teach it to others effectively has benefited him.
But the competition isn’t over, and Miami’s coaches are trying to ensure that Josh Rosen and Tua Tagovailoa, the Dolphins’ first of three first-round picks, get equal time with the team’s top unit.
“You see some good, you see some throws that they wished they could do better,” quarterback coach Robby Brown said of his unit. “And that’s the way practice is, and that’s the way games are.”
The Dolphins’ biggest challenge is to settle on a starting offensive line in time to develop some chemistry there.
According to offensive line coach Steve Marshall, all three of the draftees — Austin Jackson, Solomon Kindley and Robert Hunt — are competing for the vacant starting spots at left tackle and right guard.
Hunt is also being crosstrained to play right tackle, which has seemingly put Kindley in the driver’s seat to handle the right guard spot.
“We want to see where he is, and he has not backed down a bit,” Marshall said about Kindley, the former University of Georgia standout Miami selected in the third round. “Every day is an adventure for him.
The Dolphins must also identify an in-line tight end who can complement Mike Gesicki’s work as an off-theline weapon. Adam Sheehen and Durham Smythe seems to be duking it out for that role.
And Miami’s running game has been quiet in week one of camp, which is normal considering teams don’t hold physical practices, which makes it difficult to judge the rushing attack.
“As a coordinator you get excited about what guys can do. You don’t fret about what they can’t do,” Gailey said. “You take the guys, their skill set and things you’re excited about and put them in position to be successful. I think we have a set of guys on our football team that gives me some excitement about what we might be able to do with this group.”
DeVante Parker, Preston Williams, Mike Gesicki, Matt Breida and Jordan Howard are clearly viewed as this offense’s top playmakers.
Figuring out how to put them all in positions to be successful on Sundays is the next step, and obviously Gailey’s next hurdle.